Raiders contending for team state; 2nd at GNC
WIAA DIV. 2 BOYS TENNIS
3 individual entries had state shots
The Medford Raiders had record representation in the WIAA Division 2 Altoona boys tennis sectional. Would they be able to get individuals or even the team to state in that meet was the question when play started Wednesday morning.
The Raiders got six of seven flights through Monday’s subsectional meet hosted by Eau Claire Regis. With high seeds, most Raiders only had to win one match to reach Wednesday’s meet.
The Raiders scored 18 points in the subsectional, two behind Regis and two ahead of third-place Altoona. La Crosse Aquinas won the West Salem subsectional with 18 points. The team that combines Monday’s results with Wednesday’s and finishes with the most team points will earn a spot in the WIAA Division 2 team state tournament at The Sports Core in Kohler June 26.
Singles players Logan Searles and Quinton Tlusty and the number-one doubles team of Tahtankka Damm and Kevin Damm entered play Wednesday with the potential to reach the individual state meet in Kohler June 17-19.
In flight one singles, Searles was the second seed in Monday’s subsectional and he breezed past Lakeland’s seventhseeded Zac Muenzner 6-1, 6-1 to earn his spot in the sectional.
At the sectional, Searles (9-4) was paired with sophomore Joseph O’Flaherty of Aquinas (9-6) in a quarterfi nal with the winner qualifying for state. With a state ticket punched, the winner was set to compete for first through fourth place with the sectional’s other three state qualifiers in the flight. The other quarterfinals were Jack Hehli of West Salem (21-0) vs. Noah Kaiser of Altoona (8-12), Luke Julson of Amery (110) vs. Alex Erickson of Regis (13-4) and Michael Roou of Black River Falls vs. Garrett Husnick of Antigo (4-3).
Damm and Damm also got one win Monday and needed to win their first match Wednesday to get to state in flightone doubles. The third-seeded Raiders improved to 9-4 with a 6-0, 6-4 win over sixth-seeded Jason Van Horn and Bodee Mikkonen of Ashland.
In their sectional quarterfinal, Damm and Damm were paired up with Baldwin-Woodville’s Sam Sykora and Caleb Lokker (12-5) in a rematch of an early-season match won by the Blackhawks 6-2, 6-2 on May 8. The other quarterfinals in the flight include Brezzy Hofmeister and Brady Siegersma of West Salem (3-17) vs. Ty Rondestvedt and Dan Harris of Altoona (14-2), Jackson Dvorak and Travis Jennings of Osceola (8-8) vs. Jack Merrick and Anderson Lowry of Regis (10-3) and Garrett Butler and Seth Capelli of Aquinas (13-0) vs. Jerome Jones and Sam Bretl of Antigo (5-4).
Tlusty is one of four competitors chasing one automatic state berth in flighttwo singles. He was the top subsectional seed and drew a first-round bye. He then swept Altoona’s Ryan Hays 6-0, 6-0 to earn his sectional spot. Tlusty (11-2) was set to face Lars Gunderson of Aquinas (63) in his semifinal, while Amery’s Joseph Wentz (15-2) squared off with Alex Nunez of Regis (11-5) in the other.
While players in flights three and four are not eligible to qualify for individual state, they played for sectional titles in their flights and contributed team points in the battle for the team state berth.
In flight-three singles, Medford senior Ethan Swiantek improved to 14-0. He drew a first-round bye Monday and then took care of Altoona’s Xai Her 6-1, 6-2 to advance. He opened Wednesday against Black River Falls senior Kyle Gilbertson (2-0), while Antigo’s Calvin Jensen (8-4) met La Crosse Logan’s Alex Konczakowski (12-8) in the other semifinal.
In flight four, Medford freshman Brayden Balciar drew the top seed and didn’t even have to play a match to advance out of a three-man subsectional bracket. At 9-2 Balciar met Logan freshman Brayden Depaolo (2-0) in one semifi nal, with the other featuring Shane Willenbring of Aquinas (12-2) and Zach Laber of Regis (10-4).
Medford’s number-three doubles team of Brayden Machon and Dante Axon (62) also got a one-seed and a bye to start Monday’s subsectional. They beat fourth-seeded Stasz Kaszuba and Harry Diesberg of Ashland 6-4, 6-2 to qualify for Wednesday’s meet. They drew Baldwin-Woodville’s Brogan Drilling and Michael Krinke (9-6) in their sectional semifinal match. Krinke played singles against Medford back on May 8. The other semifi nal was Sam Dickinson and Paulie Reuteman Jr. of Aquinas vs. Tyler Goodwin and Tate Trapani of Altoona (8-3).
The number-two doubles team of Saskatoon Damm and Adam Swedlund went 1-1 in Monday’s meet. Playing as the three-seed, they opened with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Eli Robinson and Brian Pekarek of Stevens Point Pacelli, but secondseeded David Hasselwander and Noah Helms of Regis knocked them out with a 6-2, 6-3 win.
Antigo finished fourth in Monday’s subsectional with 10 points, while Ashland scored two. Pacelli and Lakeland were scoreless. In the West Salem subsectional, Logan was second with 14 points, followed by Amery and Baldwin-Woodville with 10, West Salem (8), Black River Falls (6), Osceola (6) and Ellsworth (2).
2nd in GNC
As expected, Medford finished second in Friday’s GNC tournament in Rhinelander, scoring 31 points to finish six points behind the champion Hodags.
Rhinelander finished the season with 135 conference points, while Medford totaled 113. Those two teams were well ahead of the rest of the pack, which included Antigo (69), Stevens Point Pacelli (52) and Lakeland (0).
Antigo scored 17 points in Friday’s meet, while Pacelli had 12.
The Raiders brought home two conference championships and four secondplace finishes and a third, meaning all seven flights earned some kind of All-GNC honor.
Swiantek and Balciar were the champions at number-three and number-four singles. As the top seeds, both only had to win one match to win their flights.
In a three-man bracket in flight three, Swiantek met Rhinelander’s Leo Losch in the final and beat him 6-4, 6-2. It was Swiantek’s third win of the year over Losch. The first one went to three sets on May 11 and he beat Losch 6-3, 7-5 just three days earlier in Medford. Balciar faced Antigo’s Nolan Bunnell in the flight-four final. The two split their regular-season matches, both of which went three sets. They didn’t disappoint Friday, going to a third-set tiebreaker. Balciar took the first set 6-4, Bunnell answered 6-3 and Balciar took the 10-point tiebreaker 10-4.
Tlusty was the top seed in flight two and opened with a 6-1, 6-1 semifinal win over fourth-seeded Tyson Krueger of Pacelli. But in the final, Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger won the rubber match for the season between the two, earning a surprising and convincing 6-3, 6-0 win. Tlusty beat Belanger 6-2, 6-1 three days earlier.
As the three-seed in flight one, Searles faced the second-seeded Husnick in his semifinal match. Husnick beat Searles for the second time this season by a score of 7-5, 6-0. Searles got the honorable mention spot by beating Charlie Kulick of Pacelli in the third-place match 6-4, 7-6 (4). Searles beat Kulick for the third time this season.
Medford lost championship matches to Rhinelander in all three doubles flights.
In flight one, Tahtankka Damm and Kevin Damm beat third-seeded Jerome Jones and Sam Bretl of Antigo 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals, but Luke Ring and Elijah Evers completed a season sweep of the Damms in the final 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Saskatoon Damm and Swedlund took care of Pacelli’s Pekarek and Robinson 6-2, 6-0 in the semifinals but Rhinelander’s Layne Roeser and Billy Berwig got a 6-4, 6-4 win in the championship, beating the Raiders for the second time in the week.
Machon and Axon swept Pacelli’s Ian Osypowski and Dominic Kroening 6-0, 6-0 in the semifinal round. Hodags Jakob Losch and Joseph Heck beat the Raiders for the second time in the week by a score of 6-2, 6-2, in the final.
Medford’s Quinton Tlusty serves during his GNC championship match with Rhinelander’s Joey Belanger at number-two singles Friday in Rhinelander. Tlusty was one of the Raiders who went into Wednesday’s WIAA Division 2 Altoona sectional with hopes of qualifying for state.BOB MAINHARDT/NORTHWOODS RIVER NEWS
